Post by Bernard Kron on Mar 11, 2015 16:32:09 GMT -5

After recently joining a specialist forum, Scale Racing Lobby, whose focus is primarily in the area of circle track racing of one form or another, especially dirt track racing, it was time to get real and try my hand at modeling a dirt track modified. For my first project in this genre I thought it would be best to limit myself to a fairly standard kit and build it largely out-of-the-box. I picked up an AMT '37 Chevy Modified kit at the recent NNL West show and got down to it. After extensive web research and lots of good advice from the SRL membership, here’s the result.

My approach was to go for a non-nonsense regional racer kind of look, which is the vibe I'm getting from the pictures of the original cars that the kit seeks to model. The chassis and all the interior surfaces except for the chassis tin work are painted Duplicolor Cream, a kind of medium light beige color. The cockpit tin is finished Testors Metalizer Aluminum Plate. The basic body color is Duplicolor Chrome Yellow, with Duplicolor Flash Red trim. As is my practice on virtually all my race cars, I made my own decals. I didn’t rub the paint out because that’s how it is on the real thing. The motor is standard Chevy Engine Orange. I used a Morgan Automotive Detail pre-wired magneto and after-market headers, but otherwise the motor is kit-stock. While the kit I bought was used it was complete, although some of the parts were loose. Unfortunately I failed to notice a small hole in the bottom of the box and during the build I lost several small parts. Among them was part of the multi-piece kit headers. The good news was I happened to have some resin small-block circle track headers from my Rat Roaster project last year and, with some tweaking, they fit this car. I made an oil filler tube to replace the one I lost.

All the chrome bits have been stripped and refinished in various shades of Testors Metalizer. The exception is the wheels. I used the kit wheels but they have been refinished in Testors Acryl Jet Exhaust, which is a pretty close match to the Dow 7 anti-corrosive finish used on Halibrand mags. The tires are from Big Donkey Resins with a small "pony tire" for the inside front and a staggered oversize outside front tire. I had to fabricate some hubs from styrene tubing and rod because I landed up losing those, too.

A nice detail I noticed on some of the dirt track modifieds that I studied, both 1:1 and in scale, is the wire mesh grilling in front of the radiator and safety netting in front of the driver to protect him from flying dirt and debris. I made the radiator grill form 1/8” aluminum sculpture mesh and the safety netting is tule wedding veil fabric. Both these details were courtesy of tips from the SRL guys.

I have to say that the basic AMT kit I used was excellent and choosing to build it close to out-of-the-box was a wise decision because it’s highly detailed and somewhat finicky, and with little subject knowledge as I started out, the first-rate instructions were a critical guide to learning the ropes.

Post by Mr.409 on Mar 13, 2015 3:21:06 GMT -5

Excellent work as always, Bernard. I like how this turned out, especially I like that two tone paint job and those decals. They fit perfectly to a car like this and your nice and clean work all over finishes this one off. Kind of makes me want to build something similar one day...

Post by Bernard Kron on Mar 21, 2015 23:42:58 GMT -5

Thanx everyone for all the kind words. I'm glad you all like it. I can totally understand how these things could get addictive. I really enjoy all the mechanical detail.

When I took the original final photos, the ones with the dark background, the camera I'm accustomed to using had just died and I used an old 5 megapixel backup camera to take them. I just got a replacement for my preferred camera which is a 9 megapixel Fujifilm E900. What's important about it is that it shoots in RAW format, which is high resolution and doesn't manipulate or compress the color data. It allows me to more accurately process the photos using Photoshop and gives a clearer, more precise result. Here are some pictures I just took with a white background:

Bernard Kron: Massive turnout for this month's MOM with lot's of good things to note - besides quantity the quality is super-high, and there are new members among them. Welcome to all. It's gonna be another tough one!Jan 20, 2018 14:38:03 GMT -5